Hunter's Beginning (Veller) (39 page)

“That was close.” Alex
remarked as he started to breathe again.

“Can somebody tell me what’s going on
, and why am I sleeping next to Eric?” Daniel inquired in a hushed voice.

Eric the specter slowly disappeared to reveal a rather uncomfortable Kile.

“That has to be the most disturbing thing that has ever happened to me.” She said and quickly looked up to see if Boraro had gone. “Thank Alex, I owe you one.”

“No problem Kile girl.” Alex grinned. “Why are you here anyway?”

“Daniel, I need Daniel.”

“Yeah, he’s always the lucky one.” Alex remarked as he flopped back down on his
makeshift bed, pulling the blanket over his head.

“Just keep it quiet. Some of us are trying to sleep.”
Carter remarked as he reclaimed his blanket and pulled it around him.

“What’s the problem?” Daniel asked.

“Not here.” She said a she took one last look down the aisle to make sure no one was watching. “Follow me.”

Kile got up from the floor and made her way to the rear exit and back out into the snow, Daniel
pulled his blanket around him, grabbed his boots and reluctantly followed.

Once outside
he grabbed her by the arm, preventing her from running off.

“Okay, what’s
going on? Why did you wake me up in the middle of the night, and why is Boraro threatening us with snow duty, and what did you do to your hand?” Daniel asked irritably as he held up Kile’s hand for her to see. There were deep claw marks running down each side where the cat had caught her, but she didn’t have time for that as she pulled her hand back.

“I need your help.” She pleaded. He must have realized she was
serious as his entire demeanor changed.

“What’s going on?”
He asked.

“Are you really
as good at healing as they say you are?”

“Well… I guess so.”

“I mean you can really heal. You can really do it?”

“Well, yeah… why… who’s hurt. It can’t be your hand
s.”

“No, it’s not me… it's… it’s kind of hard to explain, just follow me.”
She said as she made her way back through the snow.

He pulled his boots on as quickly as he could and had to run to catch up to her.
She was way ahead of him, moving faster than he thought possible as he plodded along behind her. It was clear that they were heading to the stables and if it was anyone but Kile he would have had serious doubt at this moment. Kile never stopped as she found the stable doors open and slipped inside.

“Luke.” She called.

“Is it Luke? Is something wrong with Luke?” Daniel asked when he finally caught up with her.

“In here.” Luke called out
from what must serve as his office.

Kile grabbed Daniel’s hand and pulled him
as he stumbled forward through the office door.

It was a small room built within the stables and it was lit by lanterns but not much warmer than the rest of the structure.
Luke was sitting at a narrow table and got up when they entered. In the center of the table there was something wrapped in a pale blue cloth.

“How is he?” She asked as she made her way
over to the table.

“Hanging in there. He’s a tough one, I’ll give him credit for that.” Luke said as he stepped back.

“You have to help him.” Kile said turning to Daniel.

The young boy walked over to the table and pulled back the layers of cloth, what he saw was not what he had expected.

“It’s a yarrow.” He said with an almost deflated sense of urgency.

“Can you help him?”

“You’re not serious?” He asked, but when he looked at Kile he saw that she was not only serious, but that she was on the verge of crying. From everything that was done to her during the last few months, he had never seen her cry. He has seen her get angry, get depressed and even go crazy, but he had never seen her cry.

“I’ll see what I can do.” He assured her as he bent over the small furry little creature and pulled the rest of the towel away. There were some broken bones, those were easy to detect, as well as some cuts and lacerations that had already been tended to, he chalked that up the Luke. What worried him
the most was internally.

It wasn’t exactly the first non
-human patient he ever had. Back in Procton that was all the Quigley would let him tend to for the first few years, so it wasn’t all guess work, but it was the smallest patient he ever had.

Daniel laid his hands gently on the yarrow, he could feel its heat and the beating of
its heart, which was very fast and very strong, and that was always a good sign. He closed his eyes and closed out the rest of the world as he fell into his edge. Healing through the mystic arts was kind of like untangling a ball of string, the more damage, the more string. A broken bone was easy, you just had to untie the knot, a laceration required the mystic to join two pieces of string together, it was when the damage was extensive that the problems occurred, with so many pieces of string, it was difficult to know where to start, and of course the size of the patient doesn’t help either, the smaller the patient, the thinner the string, or in this case it was closer to thread. Under these circumstances, he would have admitted defeat before he even started, but he couldn’t do that to Kile.

Luke pulled
the girl out of the room to let Daniel to do what ever it was that he could do, the last thing he needed was to have her hovering over him. Once outside she paced the stables and wonder what she could have done better, or faster that would have prevented this.

“Blaming yourself doesn’t do anyone any good.”

Kile turned to see Luke sitting against the wall. There was a familiarity about the stable hand that Kile just couldn’t place. She knew if she had a little more time and less on her mind she might be able to pinpoint it, but all she could think about now was Vesper.

“You’re going to have to learn that it’s part of nature’s way. The cat was not to blame in this, neither was the yarrow careless.
Their paths just crossed, one must win to survive, that is the way of things.”

“I know, but it doesn’t mean I have to like it.”

“This is true.” Luke replied.

“And I don’t have to accept it.” She added as she looked at the hole that the cat had used to make its escape. If it hadn’t stopped when it did she would have lost Vesper for sure, but why did
it stop?

“One does not argue with the wind, this is just the way of things. Argue with the wind and you’ll only lose your voice while the wind continues to blow.”

“Not to mention the fact they’ll probably throw you in the loony bin.” She added and the otherwise gloomy stable hand laughed.

“This is also true.” He said
, he was about to add something more, but thought better of it, letting Kile pace the width of the barn in silence.

She had lost all track of time when
Daniel finally stepped out of the office. He looked drained as he ran his hand through his hair. Kile stared at him, waiting for him to say something, but afraid of what he might have to say.

“I did all that I can do, but he’s doing a lot better and fortunately there were no real injuries to speak of, nothing a little untangling couldn’t fix.”

“So he’ll be alright?” Kile asked.

“Well, it’s really up to him now. A little bed rest is all he really needs.”

“Thank you.” She said as she hugged Daniel, and then ran back into the office.

“What you did was a very good thing.” Luke told Daniel as the boy sat down on the bench beside the wall.

“I really didn’t have much of a choice.” Daniel shrugged. “But to get all that worked up over a yarrow, it’s just… weird. I mean, she’s usually pretty strong and rather distant.”

“We all have our weaknesses.” Luke replied. “Regardless, you did the right thing, and that’s what it means to be a
Hunter.”

***~~~***

14

The noise outside the room was getting louder as the boys were now running up and down the hall yelling something. Kile didn’t know what, and frankly she didn’t care as she finished another page of the work that Master Adams had assigned. A now familiar shape ran up the side of the chest of drawers and sat upon the small black ebony box, and stared at her.

“And where have you been?” She asked, without looking up from her work.

-Around.-

“Around is not an answer. You haven’t been getting into anyone’s stuff have
you?”

-
Stuff?-

This time she did look up as Vesper cocked his head.

“Yeah, stuff, as in other people’s property. Besides, you’re not suppose to be running around outside anyway, you’re still recovering.”

-
Feel better.-

Kile had to admit that the yarrow’s recovery was quick considering the state he was in only two weeks ago. She had thought she had lost him, now it looked
as if she wasn’t going to be able to get rid of him, not that she wanted to. She enjoyed having Vesper around, it gave her somebody to talk to, that was when he was actually around and not exploring the rest of the compound. He came and went as he pleased through a small hole in the baseboard. She had made him a bed in the bottom drawer of the dresser for the nights that he did stay, not that he ever used it. He preferred curling up on the pillow beside her head, and on more than one morning she had woken up to him staring at her.

“Okay, so where have you been?” She asked as she set
aside her work and closed her eyes. Vesper jumped down from the dresser and climbed up on the bed. He sat in front of her and then closed his own eyes. This was somewhat of a regular routine that they shared as Vesper relayed his entire exploits to Kile in her head. At first it took some getting used to, but the more they did it, the easier it became. She had explored the entire compound vicariously through Vesper, and seen things from a completely different view point. Most of it was fascinating, a bit of it was disgusting and then there was the time that Vesper found his way into Master Boraro’s bathroom, now there was a vision she wished she could forget.

A knock on the door broke the connection as Kile jumped out of bed, grabbing the small metal box and closed off the heat. Vesper was down the bed and in the safety of his bottom drawer before she ever reached the door. She pulled it open and peeked out into the hall.

“Hey Kile girl whatcha doing.” Alex shouted. He had a bright red scarf wrapped around his neck, one that she hadn’t seen before as well as a matching stocking cap.

“What do you want Alex?” She asked, ignoring the fact that he had called her Kile girl again. It was becoming a routine with him, and she hated to admit it, she was getting used to it. It was either that or she had to keep slapping him upside the head every time he said it, and she was starting to think
he enjoyed that too much.

“The guys were wondering if you were coming to the dinning hall for Hobin’s Day.”

“Hobin’s day? What’s that?” She asked.

“You know,
winter’s feast?”

There was that certain tone in Alex’s voice that Kile was beginning to know all
too well. The tone that simply asked the question, where have you been living, under a rock.

“Oh, yeah… Winter’s
… feast.”

“You’ve never heard of it… have you?” Alex asked.

“Sure I have, I just forgot, was that today?”

Somehow this was not going to fly as Alex just stared at her. How was she to know what festivals they practiced in
Procton?

“Yeah, I guess I’ll go, I just have to finish up
Master Adam’s assignment for tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow?”

And again, there was that tone.

“Yeah, tomorrow, you know, like the day after today.”

“There are no classes tomorrow.”

“Why not?”

“Hobin’s day, Winter’s Feast.” Alex repeated, and again with that tone in his voice.

“Wait, you're telling me they’re canceling classes tomorrow.”

“You’re kidding me, aren’t you?” He asked, with that tone in his voice. Kile slammed the door in his face.

“Vesper?” She called out as she sat down on the bed. The yarrow came out of his bottom drawer and scurried up the side of the bed beside her.

“Have you ever heard of Hobin’s Day or Winter’s Feast.”

-
Big festival, lots of food, dancing, lots of noise.-

“Great, even the rats
had heard of it.” Kile sighed, now she must look like a complete idiot.

-
Yarrow.-

“Sorry Vesper, I didn’t mean to insult you.”

-Vesper show Kile.-